| In 1966, the world watched with varying degrees of interest, surprise, and unease as armed, ultra-fundamentalist insurgents overthrew the Afghan government. Within days of their victory, the Taliban, a militant Islamic sect, was issuing draconian religious decrees, restricting women's employment and movement, rounding up Afghans at gunpoint to bray five times a day, and publicly executing political opponents and criminals. Composed of essays commissioned from the foremost experts on the Taliban, this anthology traces the movement's origins, its ascendance, the reasons for its success, and its role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Crucial to the Taliban's staying power as a governing force will be its relations with neighboring countries and with the West. Interestingly, given their intense hatred of Iran, the Taliban was enthusiastically supported by the U.S. government up to the very moment of their triumphant arrival in Kabul. Examining yet another country on the brink of disintegration, Fundamentalism Reborn? is a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history, rise to power, and future of the most dramatic manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism since the Iranian revolution.
Annotation:
A collection of scholarly essays that address the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and life in that religious state. Included are essays on the role the West played in supporting the Taliban in their opposition to the Russian invasion of 1980, Afghanistan's relations with its neighboring states, its prospects for the future, and the draconian decrees and associations with terrorism which have caused the West to label Afghanistan a rogue state.
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